Thanks to Sara, Diena, Kiddo, Dani, Shi-Nom, the Dominatrix, and anyone
else who read and / or reviewed. Hope you all enjoy the next chapter :o)
I don't own anything, make any money, or intentionally infringe any copyrights.
I've given Juliana the last name Koskoff because, to the best of my knowledge, she was not given a surname in the shows, and Koskoff is the actress's last name. If you prefer a different name, feel free to change it in your head as your reading :o)
Chapter 12.
Lucas lay on the narrow bunk in the bridge and wondered if he had done the right thing, but he wasn't sure any more if there was a right thing that he could have done. He hated that Bridger and the doctor were disappointed in him, but he didn't want to let his friends down either.
He wondered how long he could go without computers before he would go insane, but even more he wondered if Juliana would ever forgive him for standing her up. The way his luck was going at the moment, she would probably hate him sine die.
Turning onto his back he began counting the ways it was possible to escape from the bridge, and simultaneously writing a computer programmes to make it next to impossible for any one else to do so.
***** ***** *****
" Yes, Mr. Koskoff. I'll be sure to have a long talk with Lucas... Yes, Mr. Koskoff I'll do that too... O.K., goodbye, Mr. Koskoff."
Nathan Bridger switched off the vid phone and put his hands over his eyes. "That went well." He said looking out from between his fingers to see Kristen Westphalen's sympathetic look.
"What are you going to do about Lucas?"
Bridger sighed, he knew he'd gone too far, but didn't know how to back down now. He regretted being so hard on Lucas as soon as the boy had left, and had only felt worse when Tim sounded so worried. "Leave him to think for an hour or two, and then go talk to him again. Maybe the brig will be a big enough shock to his system that he will open up." He couldn't hide the hope from his voice - he hoped more than anything that he hadn't ruined the relationship they were still in the process of building.
***** ***** *****
"Tim didn't say anything else to you?"
"No, Miguel, if he had I would have told you the last five times you asked." Ben said. "He just said we had to get back to the boat as fast as we could. They he cut me off."
"Maybe he's getting revenge, because he's stuck on seaQuest when we're all on shore leave?" suggested Shan.
"Or maybe Ben's making it all up, so he wont have to pay for the dinner he promised us." Crocker said.
"As if I would!" Krieg protested grinning. "Don't any of you guys trust me?"
"No." came the three strong chorus.
***** ***** *****
"What emergency could there possibly be when we're in dock?" Katie asked Ford as they left the restaurant and headed for their transport.
"He didn't say, he just said he needed the two of us to get back on board a.s.a.p."
They drove in silence, each trying to prepare them selves for any eventuality. They reached the dock just as Krieg and the others were arriving.
"Tim called you too?"
Ford nodded, and they all made their way onto the sub.
***** ***** *****
Ford was the first to reach the bridge, and Tim quickly explained what was going on. Ford nodded in agreement. While Tim explained everything to Ben, Ford sent the others to wait in the wardroom. Between the three of them, there was soon a plan in action.
***** ***** *****
"Lucas, Lucas you awake?" Ben hissed through the door.
"No, Ben - I'm asleep - go away!"
"Lucas, get up, there's a meeting in the ward room." Ben told the teen opening the door.
"The captain told me to stay here." Lucas said flatly.
"And now I'm telling you to go to the ward room." Ben stated.
"Since when do you outrank the Captain?" Sarcasm had always kept people at a distance in the past; maybe it would work again.
"Since I'll pick you up and carry you into the ward room, if you won't go by yourself."
"You wouldn't." Lucas turned toward the door for the first time, looked into Krieg's eyes, sighed and said, "You would."
***** ***** *****
The Captain was pacing around the room, trying to convince both himself and Kristen that he had done the right thing when he heard a knock at the door.
When he called for the knocker to come in, he was surprised to see Ford enter.
"I thought you were on leave, Commander."
"There's something of a situation, Captain. We need you, and you too Doctor, to come to the ward room."
"Can't you deal with it?" The Captain asked, knowing he was not in the right frame of mind to deal with 'situations'.
"Sorry, Captain, but this is something we need you to be present for."
"What is it?" The Doctor asked.
"I think it's best if we wait until we get to the ward room..." Ford hedged.
"I could order you to tell us." The Captain said, frustrated.
"I realise that Captain, but I recommend you wait until we get to the ward room." Ford replied calmly.
Bridger sighed. "OK Commander, lead the way."
***** ***** *****
Lucas leaned against the wall the wardroom, and worried. Something was going on, but he didn't know what, and Lucas hated not knowing what was going on. Everyone else seemed to be talking at once. Lucas leaned over towards Tim, who had just given up on trying to get Miguel to make sense, and asked the communications officer what was going on.
"We're going to get everything sorted out, there's nothing to worry about."
"I didn't tell the Captain anything, Tim."
"We know that Lucas, no one thinks you did." Tim hoped that his words would reassure the teen, but Lucas still looked worried as he ran his hand through his hair distractedly.
Everyone looked up when the door opened, and most were surprised when they saw the Captain and the Doctor follow Ford in. Bridger looked around the assembled crewmembers.
"None of you have anything better to do with your shore leave, then spend it in the ward room?" he asked, before he saw Lucas, he was just about to ask what the teen was doing there, when Ben Krieg spoke up.
"We wouldn't be here, but what we have to talk about is very important, Sir."
Bridger sighed, "Every one sit down." It looked like they were going to be there for quite a while. "OK, Mr. Krieg, start at the beginning.
"Well, it all started when Tim and Miguel over heard Katie say she's pregnant..."
"What?" Katie practically screeched.
"We overheard you talking to one of the engineering crew, in the mess hall." Miguel explained.
"I never said I was pregnant!"
"Um... yes you did, and you said that Krieg was the father, too." Tim added.
"I never said I'm pregnant! I'm not pregnant!"
"Yes, you are Katie." Ben said trying to be reasonable.
"Ben, I should know weather or not I'm pregnant, and I'm not."
"Calm down, stress isn't good for the baby." Ben admonished. "Maybe she's in denial." He muttered to Crocker.
"There is no baby!" Katie shouted.
"Then why did you say you were?" Miguel challenged.
"I didn't say I were, was, I mean I didn't say I was!"
"We heard you, you said you had to think about your career and make decisions before you told Ben..."
"Oh God," Katie said sitting back down. "You heard me say that in the mess...?"
Tim and Miguel nodded.
"You see, so you can tell us the truth Katie."
"But that's is, you're wrong, we weren't talking about me! The Lieutenant I was talking with is pregnant not me."
"Your not pregnant?" Krieg said, disappointed.
"No, I'm not."
"I'm not going to be a Daddy?" Ben sounded as if his world had fallen down around his ears.
Bridger coughed, "Is there some reason we all need to be here for this?"
Ford snapped out of his daze. "Well Captain, we all thought that Katie was pregnant, and we all lost our heads a bit..."
"Go on, Commander." Bridger prompted when Ford hesitated.
"Well there's this doctor called Dr. Washington..." and he went on to tell the Captain about the food programme.
"Why didn't you tell us any of this Lucas?" Kristen asked when Ford was finished.
"I promised not to tell any one." Lucas said simply. "So I didn't."
"When Tim told us Lucas was in the Brig, we decided it was time to get things out in the open.
"Is there anything else you gentlemen would like to confess to?" Bridger asked, only half joking.
"Well, there was the music..." Crocker said shifting uncomfortably.
"Music?" Katie said, her hackles rising.
"Well, the theory goes..." Crocker explained how they decided to pipe music into her room.
"I thought I was going crazy!"
"Well, it did seem like a good idea at the time." Ben defended himself.
"What else did you do to me?" she asked.
Ben looked innocent, but Ford spoke up. "We did move the stinger... and change the shifts around."
"Why?" Katie asked just about holding on to her temper."
"It's the safest part of the ship... and the safest shift." Ford mumbled wilting under Katie's glare. "We had your best interests at heart." He continued.
Katie just humpfed, and made no further comment.
"So," Captain, "Is Lucas off the hook?" Tim asked.
"To some extent, although was still have a lot to talk about."
"What?" Lucas asked warily.
The Captain knew that Ben at least knew about Juliana's baby, so he took a gamble and said.
"Juliana's baby."
Lucas turned white. "Wh... Wh..." he stuttered, and tried again "What? Juliana's pregnant?"
"Lucas the Captain overheard you and Ben.... you and Ben... Oh, no." Kristen said and the Captains thoughts were right behind hers.
"You didn't get Juliana pregnant?"
"No!"
"Your sure?"
"Yes! We didn't... I mean we never..." Lucas mumbled himself into silence.
"But when we said we knew about the baby?" The Captain asked.
"Ben's baby, not mine!"
"Oh, no, Nathan I just thought!"
Now Nathan turned pale.
"What?" Lucas asked, looking from the doctor to the captain and back again.
"We were talking to Mr. Koskoff..."
"Who?" Miguel asked, no struggling to keep up.
"Juliana's father... no, you didn't... Captain, you couldn't have..."
The Captain nodded.
"What?" Ben asked.
"I told Juliana's father she's pregnant." Bridger admitted.
"Why?" Crocker asked, confused.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time..." Bridger echoed Ben's earlier defence.
"She's going to kill me." Lucas said in something like shock.
"She going to kill me for standing her up, and then she's going to take me to a doctor and have me patched up just so she can kill me all over again for this..."
It was only then that Ben remembered Lucas's date, he looked at his watch, it was past nine o'clock...
To be continued...
***** ***** *****
Only two more chapters left now, I'll probably have the next one up soon. Hope everyone is enjoying it. Please review - I really like getting reviews :o)
I don't own anything, make any money, or intentionally infringe any copyrights.
I've given Juliana the last name Koskoff because, to the best of my knowledge, she was not given a surname in the shows, and Koskoff is the actress's last name. If you prefer a different name, feel free to change it in your head as your reading :o)
Chapter 12.
Lucas lay on the narrow bunk in the bridge and wondered if he had done the right thing, but he wasn't sure any more if there was a right thing that he could have done. He hated that Bridger and the doctor were disappointed in him, but he didn't want to let his friends down either.
He wondered how long he could go without computers before he would go insane, but even more he wondered if Juliana would ever forgive him for standing her up. The way his luck was going at the moment, she would probably hate him sine die.
Turning onto his back he began counting the ways it was possible to escape from the bridge, and simultaneously writing a computer programmes to make it next to impossible for any one else to do so.
***** ***** *****
" Yes, Mr. Koskoff. I'll be sure to have a long talk with Lucas... Yes, Mr. Koskoff I'll do that too... O.K., goodbye, Mr. Koskoff."
Nathan Bridger switched off the vid phone and put his hands over his eyes. "That went well." He said looking out from between his fingers to see Kristen Westphalen's sympathetic look.
"What are you going to do about Lucas?"
Bridger sighed, he knew he'd gone too far, but didn't know how to back down now. He regretted being so hard on Lucas as soon as the boy had left, and had only felt worse when Tim sounded so worried. "Leave him to think for an hour or two, and then go talk to him again. Maybe the brig will be a big enough shock to his system that he will open up." He couldn't hide the hope from his voice - he hoped more than anything that he hadn't ruined the relationship they were still in the process of building.
***** ***** *****
"Tim didn't say anything else to you?"
"No, Miguel, if he had I would have told you the last five times you asked." Ben said. "He just said we had to get back to the boat as fast as we could. They he cut me off."
"Maybe he's getting revenge, because he's stuck on seaQuest when we're all on shore leave?" suggested Shan.
"Or maybe Ben's making it all up, so he wont have to pay for the dinner he promised us." Crocker said.
"As if I would!" Krieg protested grinning. "Don't any of you guys trust me?"
"No." came the three strong chorus.
***** ***** *****
"What emergency could there possibly be when we're in dock?" Katie asked Ford as they left the restaurant and headed for their transport.
"He didn't say, he just said he needed the two of us to get back on board a.s.a.p."
They drove in silence, each trying to prepare them selves for any eventuality. They reached the dock just as Krieg and the others were arriving.
"Tim called you too?"
Ford nodded, and they all made their way onto the sub.
***** ***** *****
Ford was the first to reach the bridge, and Tim quickly explained what was going on. Ford nodded in agreement. While Tim explained everything to Ben, Ford sent the others to wait in the wardroom. Between the three of them, there was soon a plan in action.
***** ***** *****
"Lucas, Lucas you awake?" Ben hissed through the door.
"No, Ben - I'm asleep - go away!"
"Lucas, get up, there's a meeting in the ward room." Ben told the teen opening the door.
"The captain told me to stay here." Lucas said flatly.
"And now I'm telling you to go to the ward room." Ben stated.
"Since when do you outrank the Captain?" Sarcasm had always kept people at a distance in the past; maybe it would work again.
"Since I'll pick you up and carry you into the ward room, if you won't go by yourself."
"You wouldn't." Lucas turned toward the door for the first time, looked into Krieg's eyes, sighed and said, "You would."
***** ***** *****
The Captain was pacing around the room, trying to convince both himself and Kristen that he had done the right thing when he heard a knock at the door.
When he called for the knocker to come in, he was surprised to see Ford enter.
"I thought you were on leave, Commander."
"There's something of a situation, Captain. We need you, and you too Doctor, to come to the ward room."
"Can't you deal with it?" The Captain asked, knowing he was not in the right frame of mind to deal with 'situations'.
"Sorry, Captain, but this is something we need you to be present for."
"What is it?" The Doctor asked.
"I think it's best if we wait until we get to the ward room..." Ford hedged.
"I could order you to tell us." The Captain said, frustrated.
"I realise that Captain, but I recommend you wait until we get to the ward room." Ford replied calmly.
Bridger sighed. "OK Commander, lead the way."
***** ***** *****
Lucas leaned against the wall the wardroom, and worried. Something was going on, but he didn't know what, and Lucas hated not knowing what was going on. Everyone else seemed to be talking at once. Lucas leaned over towards Tim, who had just given up on trying to get Miguel to make sense, and asked the communications officer what was going on.
"We're going to get everything sorted out, there's nothing to worry about."
"I didn't tell the Captain anything, Tim."
"We know that Lucas, no one thinks you did." Tim hoped that his words would reassure the teen, but Lucas still looked worried as he ran his hand through his hair distractedly.
Everyone looked up when the door opened, and most were surprised when they saw the Captain and the Doctor follow Ford in. Bridger looked around the assembled crewmembers.
"None of you have anything better to do with your shore leave, then spend it in the ward room?" he asked, before he saw Lucas, he was just about to ask what the teen was doing there, when Ben Krieg spoke up.
"We wouldn't be here, but what we have to talk about is very important, Sir."
Bridger sighed, "Every one sit down." It looked like they were going to be there for quite a while. "OK, Mr. Krieg, start at the beginning.
"Well, it all started when Tim and Miguel over heard Katie say she's pregnant..."
"What?" Katie practically screeched.
"We overheard you talking to one of the engineering crew, in the mess hall." Miguel explained.
"I never said I was pregnant!"
"Um... yes you did, and you said that Krieg was the father, too." Tim added.
"I never said I'm pregnant! I'm not pregnant!"
"Yes, you are Katie." Ben said trying to be reasonable.
"Ben, I should know weather or not I'm pregnant, and I'm not."
"Calm down, stress isn't good for the baby." Ben admonished. "Maybe she's in denial." He muttered to Crocker.
"There is no baby!" Katie shouted.
"Then why did you say you were?" Miguel challenged.
"I didn't say I were, was, I mean I didn't say I was!"
"We heard you, you said you had to think about your career and make decisions before you told Ben..."
"Oh God," Katie said sitting back down. "You heard me say that in the mess...?"
Tim and Miguel nodded.
"You see, so you can tell us the truth Katie."
"But that's is, you're wrong, we weren't talking about me! The Lieutenant I was talking with is pregnant not me."
"Your not pregnant?" Krieg said, disappointed.
"No, I'm not."
"I'm not going to be a Daddy?" Ben sounded as if his world had fallen down around his ears.
Bridger coughed, "Is there some reason we all need to be here for this?"
Ford snapped out of his daze. "Well Captain, we all thought that Katie was pregnant, and we all lost our heads a bit..."
"Go on, Commander." Bridger prompted when Ford hesitated.
"Well there's this doctor called Dr. Washington..." and he went on to tell the Captain about the food programme.
"Why didn't you tell us any of this Lucas?" Kristen asked when Ford was finished.
"I promised not to tell any one." Lucas said simply. "So I didn't."
"When Tim told us Lucas was in the Brig, we decided it was time to get things out in the open.
"Is there anything else you gentlemen would like to confess to?" Bridger asked, only half joking.
"Well, there was the music..." Crocker said shifting uncomfortably.
"Music?" Katie said, her hackles rising.
"Well, the theory goes..." Crocker explained how they decided to pipe music into her room.
"I thought I was going crazy!"
"Well, it did seem like a good idea at the time." Ben defended himself.
"What else did you do to me?" she asked.
Ben looked innocent, but Ford spoke up. "We did move the stinger... and change the shifts around."
"Why?" Katie asked just about holding on to her temper."
"It's the safest part of the ship... and the safest shift." Ford mumbled wilting under Katie's glare. "We had your best interests at heart." He continued.
Katie just humpfed, and made no further comment.
"So," Captain, "Is Lucas off the hook?" Tim asked.
"To some extent, although was still have a lot to talk about."
"What?" Lucas asked warily.
The Captain knew that Ben at least knew about Juliana's baby, so he took a gamble and said.
"Juliana's baby."
Lucas turned white. "Wh... Wh..." he stuttered, and tried again "What? Juliana's pregnant?"
"Lucas the Captain overheard you and Ben.... you and Ben... Oh, no." Kristen said and the Captains thoughts were right behind hers.
"You didn't get Juliana pregnant?"
"No!"
"Your sure?"
"Yes! We didn't... I mean we never..." Lucas mumbled himself into silence.
"But when we said we knew about the baby?" The Captain asked.
"Ben's baby, not mine!"
"Oh, no, Nathan I just thought!"
Now Nathan turned pale.
"What?" Lucas asked, looking from the doctor to the captain and back again.
"We were talking to Mr. Koskoff..."
"Who?" Miguel asked, no struggling to keep up.
"Juliana's father... no, you didn't... Captain, you couldn't have..."
The Captain nodded.
"What?" Ben asked.
"I told Juliana's father she's pregnant." Bridger admitted.
"Why?" Crocker asked, confused.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time..." Bridger echoed Ben's earlier defence.
"She's going to kill me." Lucas said in something like shock.
"She going to kill me for standing her up, and then she's going to take me to a doctor and have me patched up just so she can kill me all over again for this..."
It was only then that Ben remembered Lucas's date, he looked at his watch, it was past nine o'clock...
To be continued...
***** ***** *****
Only two more chapters left now, I'll probably have the next one up soon. Hope everyone is enjoying it. Please review - I really like getting reviews :o)
